Drawing frame

ABSTRACT

A clearing system for cleaning the rollers of a drawing frame, particularly the carrier-lever-mounted top rollers of a drafting system is disclosed. The clearing system comprises an endless clearing belt driven by being passed through the nip of at least one pair of rollers of the drafting system. Means is provided for supporting the endless belt on the carrier lever. The supporting means includes guides for guiding said belt, means for tensioning said belt when in an operative location and means for holding said guides and said tensioning means on the carrier lever. The endless belt merely tangentially contacts the other rollers to be cleaned.

United States Patent [191 Gort [ Oct. 1, 1974 1 DRAWING FRAME [76] Inventor: Bernhard Gort, 45, am l-luttenbrink,

483 Gutersloh, Germany [22] Filed: Apr. 6, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 348,773

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 11, 1972 Germany 2217314 [56] References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 19,730 lO/l893 Great Britain l5/256.51 699,024 1 H1940 Germany 19/245 Germany 19/265 Switzerland 15/256.51

[ 5 7 ABSTRACT A clearing system for cleaning the rollers of a drawing frame, particularly the carrier-lever-mounted top rollers of a drafting system is disclosed. The clearing system comprises an endless clearing belt driven by being passed through the nip of at least one pair of rollers of the drafting system. Means is provided for supporting the endless belt on the carrier lever. The supporting means includes guides for guiding said belt, means for tensioning said belt when in an operative location and means for holding said guides and said tensioning means on the carrier lever. The endless belt merely tangentially contacts the other rollers to be cleaned.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED 1 1974 sum 20F 2 DRAWING FRAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a clearing system for cleaning the rollers of a drawing frame, particularly the top rollers of the drafting system which are mounted on the carrier lever arm in such a frame.

A considerable diversity of clearing systems and clearers for the draft rollers of drawing frames have already been described and used.

In a conventional drawing frame a fiber sliver is submitted to draft between two or more pairs of draft rollers. The back rollers revolve at a lower speed than the roller pairs following in the direction of draft. The bottom rollers of each pair are generally of solid construction, consisting of metal, and they are axially fluted. The top rollers are provided with jackets made of some flexible material, usually an oil-resistant rubber, cork or leather.

Nearly all drawing frames are fitted with clearers. Their object is to keep the top and bottom rollers as well as the draft belts of the drafting system free of fly and loose fibers. The clearers are provided with a clean facing material which retains the loose fibers that become deposited on the draft rollers. When the clearers are dirty they must be cleaned by the machine minder. Several types of clearing systems are in practical use. The most usual type is a fixed clearer and consists substantially of a roughened flannel stretched on. a wooden frame above the top rollers. Devices in the form of clearing boards have also been proposed. These clearing boards which are covered with flet are principally used in the spinning of cotton. Rotatable clearers have also been described and quite recently oscillating clearing devices have also made their appearance.

The jackets of top rollers and draft belts have in recent times been principally made of synthetic rubber. These materials have a smooth surface and they are outstandingly suitable for the drafting of fiber slivers and rovings, but they have made the problem of cleaning when using fixed clearers more difficult.

Under certain operating conditions the loose fibers are not sufficiently reliably retained by the cloth of the clearers and they eventually accumulate in the form of a loose cohering mass which hangs down from the cloth surface and looks like an eyebrow or beard. Efforts have been made to suppress this undesirable formation of fiber beards by adding ground cork, sand or like substances to the mass designed to produce a rougher surface more likely to cause the fiber waste to be retained by the clearers.

Sometimes the waste fibers and fly collect on the clearers in the form of long thin strings often referred to as rats tails". Both types of accumulated waste, namely eyebrows and rats tails tend to drop on the sliver or yarn during the draft and to be entrained by the yarn on which they then form undesirable thickenings which cause yarn breaks, forcing the machine minder to eliminate the fault by tying the ends together again. On the other hand, the waste may start lapping the rollers. Since most of the draft occurs between the middle and the front pair of rollers and between the middle draft belt and the pair of front rollers, the greater portion of the waste gathers in this zone and the problem of eyebrows and rats' tails" is most difficult to deal with at the front rollers;

In the context of prior art a particular type of clearing system has been published in German Patent Specification No. 1,092,351 and consists of an endless clearing cloth which lies slack on its two return members and which is driven by friction engendered between a top or bottom roller and a backing roller pressing the cloth on the top or bottom roller. However, in practice such a clearing system has been found to fall short of expectations. The entire construction of the clearing system described in the specification is complicated and it has certain defects. When the yarn breaks the disposition of the clearing system necessitates lifting the entire system by hand because the clearing cloth rests between two carrier arms on two lines of rollers, so that for a short period the second line of rollers will also not be cleaned. Moreover, in this arrangement the clearing cloth is not directly driven and does not continuously revolve so that a satisfactory cleaning effect on the draft rollers is out of the question. The provision of separate drive means for the clearing cloth is relatively expensive, and would be an adverse factor in the economic utility of such a clearing system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a clearing system for the rollers of drawing frames, which will reliably pick up and clear fiy' and fiber waste in all operating conditions.

Another object of the invention is to provide a system that will avoid the accumulation of fiber waste in the above-described undesirable forms.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a system which avails itself of the advantages of a continuously moving clearing system without requiring a special drive means.

A still further object of the invetnion is to provide a clearing system which can be easily inspected and cleaned with a minimum of interference with the process of spinning.

According to the invention these objects are attained by a clearing system for cleaning the rollers of a drawing frame, particularly the carrier-lever-mounted top rollers of the drafting system, which comprises on a carrier lever holding means for guides and tensioning means of an endless clearing belt driven by being passed through the nip of at least one pair of rollers of the drafting system, while merely tangentially contacting the other rollers that are to be cleaned.

A preferred feature of the invetnion consists in hingeably attaching the holding means to a small saddle member fitted over the top of said carrier lever, the point of hingeable attachment being located between the top back roller and the next top roller in the direction of draft. I

The saddle member to which said holder for the clearing belt is attached may preferably be horizontally slidably adjustable on said carrier lever.

Furthermore, the guides and tensioning means of the endless clearing belt may be slidably adjustable on the holder parallel to the carrier lever.

As an alternative the tensioning means may have the form of a separate roller on a tensioning arm hingeably mounted on a horizontally slidably adjustable slide on said carrier lever.

The endless clearing belt itself may with advantage consist of leather. artificial leather. plastics. rubber or some other appropriate flexible material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Two embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a carrier lever and top rollers cleaned by clearing belts according to the invention, the belts being shown slack;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the arrangement according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of top and bottom rollers and of the clearing belts according to FIG. 1 under tension, and

FIG. 4 is a side view of a form of construction modified with regard to the tensioning of the endless clearing belt.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2 there is provided in conventional manner a carrier lever 1 which requires no detailed description as the use of such levers in drafting machinery is well known in the art. The carrier lever l carries a small saddle member 2 fitted with a holder 3 on each side. Connection of each holder 3 to the saddle member 2 is by screw means 8. The holders 3 each serve for mounting and guiding an endless clearing belt 5. As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 the=clearing belt 5 rides over a top back roller 4 and a guiding and tensioning roller 11 on the associated holder 3. In the illustrated embodiment the hingeably mounted holder 3 has a slot 9 in which the guiding and tensioning roller 1 1 or some equivalent tensioning means as well as several belt guides 10 are horizontally slidably adjustably mounted. The saddle member 2 is releasably affixed to the carrier lever 1 by one of the screw heads 6 or by other equivalent means. For this purpose the saddle member 2 which is designed to fit over the carrier lever l is formed with a slot 7 in its horizontal web. Alternatively the saddle member 2 might be releasably affixed to the carrier lever 1 by some other type of quickrelease clamping or screw means.

The adjustability of the saddle member 2 and the hinged affixation thereto of the holder 3 ensures that the operator will not be held up or impeded when the drawing frame is in use for spinning. Preferably the hinge of the holder 3 is located between the top back roller 4 and the next top roller 12 in drafting direction. The weight of the holder 3 and of its guide and tensioning means land 11 is usually sufficient for ensuring a satisfactory contact pressure of the lower run 5' of the belt on the top rollers 12 of the carrier lever 1. In case of need an additional weight or a compression or tension spring could be provided.

The above-described clearing device functions as follows:-

The endless clearing belt 5 is driven by being led around the top back roller 4. The top back roller 4 on the carrier lever 1 has a larger diameter than the rollers 12. Consequently the speeds of rotation of roller 4 and rollers 12 differ. Since the endless clearing belt 5 is driven by the more slowly rotating top back roller 4, relative movement and friction occurs between the endless clearing belt 5 and the more rapidly revolving rollers 12, and the top draft belt 13, and their relative movement has a back-rubbing effect. The endless clearing belt 5 which'is flexibly but nevertheless very safely guided picks off lapping fibers and has a positive polishing effect on the rollers 4 and 12 besides being self-cleaning. The correct tension of the clearing belt 5 can be set and readjusted by means of the guiding and tensioning roller 11. This roller 11 could be replaced by a hoop or like means.

A form of construction which differs with regard to the manner in which the endless clearing belt 5 is guided is shown in FIG. 4. The guiding and tensioning means in this instance consist of a separate guiding and tensioning roller 1 1' located behind the top back roller 4 and mounted on the end of a tensioning arm 11" which is horizontally slidably adjustable on the carrier arm 1. The tensioning arm 11" is deflectable about a hinge in the arrowed directions. The actual path taken by the clearing belt 5 in this modified arrangement and the manner in which it differs from that in FIGS. 1 to 3 will be clearly understood from FIG. 4.

In an alternative form of construction not illustrated in the drawings the upper run 5 of the endless clearing belt 5 may be guided over upwardly directed guide means pivoted to the holder 3 or the carrier lever 1. In such an arrangement it is possible for the endless clearing belt 5 to be adjusted to different roller positions. An endless clearing belt 5 for long fibers can be shortened by deflecting the guide means to make the belt suitable for short and medium length fibers. Since the disposition and upward deflection of guide means in .the form of arms carrying rollers are already known in the art, a detailed description will not be required.

Clearing devices as proposed by the invention and exemplified by the drawings are suitable for drawing frames of all kinds.

The above-described clearing system can also be applied to the fluted bottom rollers of a drawing frame, as already mentioned. Merely the suspension and method of driving the endless clearing belt 5 require some modifications. In the case of fluted steel rollers the endless clearing belt '5 is driven by a separate top roller and the bottom back roller. The endless clearing belt 5 runs underneath and in contact with the fluted bottom rollers 14 of the drawing frame. The cleaning effect of the endless belt 5 on the fluted bottom rollers 14 of the frame is exactly the same as that obtained on the top rollers 4 and 12 of the carrier arm 1.

The advantages afforded by the invention over prior art clearing systems reside in that by the provision of self-cleaning belts the rollers of the drawing frame are kept satisfactorily clean. Owing to the back-rubbing effect of the endless clearing belt in conjunction with the choice of material the much feared efiect of waste lapping around the top and bottom rollers of drawing frames and the build up of fly and fiber on the top and bottom drafting belts is prevented. This entrains an additional advantage, namely that of a considerable saving in time when spinning and cleaning.

Other incidental advantages are a. a reduction in the number of faults during spinnmg,

b. higher productivity and improved quality of the yarn,

c. reduced wear of the top rollers of the drawing frames and d. more uniform spinning conditions.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

What is claimed is:

1. A clearing system for cleaning the rollers of a drawing frame, particularly the carrier-lever-mounted top rollers of the drafting system, said clearing system comprising:

a. an endless clearing belt driven by being passed through the nip of at least one pair of rollers of the drafting system, and

b. means for supporting said endless belt on said carrier-lever,

c. said supporting means including guides for guiding said belt, means for tensioning said belt when in an operative location and means for holding said guides and said tensioning means on said carrierlever,

(1. said endless belt tangentially contacting the other rollers to be cleaned.

2. A clearing system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said holding means are hingeably attached to a saddle member fitted over the top of said carrier lever, the point of hingeable attachment being located between the top back roller and the next top roller in the direction of draft.

3. A clearing system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said saddle member to which said supporting means for the clearing belt is attached is horizontally slidably adjustable on said carrier lever.

4. A clearing system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said guides and tensioning means for the endless clearing belt are slidably adjustable on said holding means parallel to the carrier lever.

5. A clearing system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said tensioning means is in the form of a separate roller on a tensioning arm hingeably mounted on a horizontally slidably adjustable slide on said carrier lever.

6. A clearing system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the clearing belt is made of a material selected from the group consisting of leather, artificial leather, plastics, and rubber. 

1. A clearing system for cleaning the rollers of a drawing frame, particularly the carrier-lever-mounted top rollers of the drafting system, said clearing system comprising: a. an endless clearing belt driven by being passed through the nip of at least one pair of rollers of the drafting system, and b. means for supporting said endless belt on said carrierlever, c. said supporting means including guides for guiding said belt, means for tensioning said belt when in an operative location and means for holding said guides and said tensioning means on said carrier-lever, d. said endless belt tangentially contacting the other rollers to be cleaned.
 2. A clearing system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said holding means are hingeably attached to a saddle member fitted over the top of said carrier lever, the point of hingeable attachment being located between the top back roller and the next top roller in the direction of draft.
 3. A clearing system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said saddle member to which said supporting means for the clearing belt is attached is horizontally slidably adjustable on said carrier lever.
 4. A clearing system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said guides and tensioning means for the endless clearing belt are slidably adjustable on said holding means Parallel to the carrier lever.
 5. A clearing system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said tensioning means is in the form of a separate roller on a tensioning arm hingeably mounted on a horizontally slidably adjustable slide on said carrier lever.
 6. A clearing system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the clearing belt is made of a material selected from the group consisting of leather, artificial leather, plastics, and rubber. 